In this Nov. 9, 2007 file photo, music legend Fats Domino performs on the NBC “Today” television show in New York. Domino, the amiable rock ‘n’ roll pioneer whose steady, pounding piano and easy baritone helped change popular music even as it honored the grand, good-humored tradition of the Crescent City, has died. He was 89. Mark Bone, chief investigator with the Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, coroner’s office, said Domino died Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017.

Fats Domino, the amiable rock ‘n’ roll pioneer whose steady, pounding piano and easy baritone helped change popular music while honoring the traditions of the Crescent City, died Tuesday. He was 89.

FILE – This 1956 file photo shows singer, composer and pianist Fats Domino. The amiable rock ‘n’ roll pioneer whose steady, pounding piano and easy baritone helped change popular music even as it honored the grand, good-humored tradition of the Crescent City, has died. He was 89. (AP Photo, File)

FILE – In this Nov. 9, 2007 file photo, music legend Fats Domino performs on the NBC “Today” television show in New York. Domino, the amiable rock ‘n’ roll pioneer whose steady, pounding piano and easy baritone helped change popular music while honoring the traditions of the Crescent City, died Tuesday. He was 89. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE – This Jan. 23, 1986 file photo, from left, musicians Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino and James Brown pose at a reception where they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Domino, the amiable rock ‘n’ roll pioneer whose steady, pounding piano and easy baritone helped change popular music while honoring the traditions of the Crescent City, died Tuesday. He was 89. (AP Photo/G. Paul Burnett)

File – Rock and roll pianist and singer Fats Domino waves after receiving the Radio Luxemburg Honorary Golden Lion Award on April 11, 1981 in Dortmund, Germany. South african singer Howard Carpendale, center, received the Silver Lion Award for his song "Es geht um mehr" and German singer Roland Kaiser received the Bronze Lion Award for his Song "Santa Maria". (AP Photo/Heinz Ducklau)

Rock ‘n’ roll’s Fats Domino is seen in 1986. Domino, the amiable rock ‘n’ roll pioneer whose steady, pounding piano and easy baritone helped change popular music while honoring the traditions of the Crescent City, died Tuesday. He was 89. (AP Photo)

Singers Fats Domino, left, and Ray Charles are shown Thursday, Jan. 23, 1986 in New York at the Waldorf-Astoria at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame reception dinner. (AP Photo)

Schoolchildren from the Frikkemas School in Sneek, northern Netherlands, vie with each other for singer Fats Domino?s signature after he arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, March 13, 1987. Domino, the amiable rock ‘n’ roll pioneer whose steady, pounding piano and easy baritone helped change popular music while honoring the traditions of the Crescent City, died Tuesday. He was 89. (AP Photo)

FILE – In this April 24, 2003 file photo, Fats Domino performs on the opening day of the 34th annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans. Domino, the amiable rock ‘n’ roll pioneer whose steady, pounding piano and easy baritone helped change popular music even as it honored the grand, good-humored tradition of the Crescent City, has died. He was 89. (AP Photo/Douglas Mason, File)

World renowned musician Fats Domino waves as he leaves after checking the progress of the rebuilding of his home in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans Friday, March 9, 2007. Domino, the amiable rock ‘n’ roll pioneer whose steady, pounding piano and easy baritone helped change popular music while honoring the traditions of the Crescent City, died Tuesday. He was 89. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Entertainer Fats Domino looks at the progress of the rebuilding of his home in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans in this March 9, 2007, file photo. Domino, the amiable rock ‘n’ roll pioneer whose steady, pounding piano and easy baritone helped change popular music while honoring the traditions of the Crescent City, died Tuesday. He was 89. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Fats Domino visits with Little Richard in a dressing room after Richards’ performance at The Domino Effect, a tribute concert for Domino, at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Saturday, May 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

B.B. King visits with Fats Domino after King’s performance at The Domino Effect, a tribute concert for Domino, at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Saturday, May 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

File – Legendary musician Fats Domino is named “Honorary Grand Marshall” of the Krewe of Orpheus, the star-studded Carnival club that traditionally parades the night before Mardi Gras. A pink Cadillac sofa and some of his gold records hang from the living room wall at his home in Harvey, La. Friday December 20, 2013.

In appearance, he was no Elvis Presley. He stood 5-feet-5 and weighed more than 200 pounds, with a wide, boyish smile and a haircut as flat as an album cover. But Domino sold more than 110 million records, with hits including “Blueberry Hill,” ″Ain’t It a Shame” and other standards of rock ‘n’ roll.

He was one of the first 10 honorees named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Rolling Stone Record Guide likened him to Benjamin Franklin, the beloved old man of a revolutionary movement.

His dynamic performance style and warm vocals drew crowds for five decades. One of his show-stopping stunts was playing the piano while standing, throwing his body against it with the beat of the music and bumping the grand piano across the stage.

Domino’s 1956 version of “Blueberry Hill” was selected for the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry of historic sound recordings worthy of preservation. The preservation board noted that Domino insisted on performing the song despite his producer’s doubts, adding that Domino’s “New Orleans roots are evident in the Creole inflected cadences that add richness and depth to the performance.”

Domino became a global star but stayed true to his hometown, where his fate was initially unknown after Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. It turned out that he and his family were rescued by boat from his home, where he lost three pianos and dozens of gold and platinum records, along with other memorabilia.

Many wondered if he would ever return to the stage. Scheduled to perform at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2006, he simply tipped his hat to thousands of cheering fans.

But in May 2007, he was back, performing at Tipitina’s music club in New Orleans. Fans cheered — and some cried — as Domino played “I’m Walkin’,” ″Ain’t It a Shame,” ″Shake, Rattle and Roll,” ″Blueberry Hill” and a host of other hits.

That performance was a highlight during several rough years. After losing their home and almost all their belongings to the floods, his wife of more than 50 years, Rosemary, died in April 2008.

Domino moved to the New Orleans suburb of Harvey after the storm but would often visit his publishing house, an extension of his old home in the Lower 9th Ward, inspiring many with his determination to stay in the city he loved.

“Fats embodies everything good about New Orleans,” his friend David Lind said in a 2008 interview. “He’s warm, fun-loving, spiritual, creative and humble. You don’t get more New Orleans than that.”

The son of a violin player, Antoine Domino Jr. was born on Feb. 26, 1928, to a family that grew to include nine children. As a youth, he taught himself popular piano styles — ragtime, blues and boogie-woogie — after his cousin left an old upright in the house. Fats Waller and Albert Ammons were early influences.

He quit school at age 14, and worked days in a factory while playing and singing in local juke joints at night. In 1949, Domino was playing at the Hideaway Club for $3 a week when he was signed by Imperial record company.

He recorded his first song, “The Fat Man,” in the back of a tiny French Quarter recording studio.

“They call me the Fat Man, because I weigh 200 pounds,” he sang. “All the girls, they love me, ’cause I know my way around.”

In 1955, he broke into the white pop charts with “Ain’t it a Shame” — but actually sang the lyrics as “ain’t that a shame.” The song was covered blandly by Pat Boone as “Ain’t That a Shame” and rocked out years later by Cheap Trick. Domino enjoyed a parade of successes through the early 1960s, including “Be My Guest” and “I’m Ready.” Another hit, “I’m Walkin,’” became the debut single for Ricky Nelson.

Domino appeared in the rock ‘n’ roll film “The Girl Can’t Help It” and was among the first black performers to be featured in popular music shows, starring with Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers. He also helped bridge rock ‘n’ roll and other styles — even country/western, recording Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya” and Bobby Charles’ “Walkin’ to New Orleans.”

Like many of his peers, Domino’s popularity tapered off in the 1960s as British and psychedelic rock held sway.

Domino told Ebony magazine that he stopped recording because companies wanted him to update his style.

“I refused to change,” he said. “I had to stick to my own style that I’ve always used or it just wouldn’t be me.”

Antoine and Rosemary Domino raised eight children in the same ramshackle neighborhood where he grew up, but they did it in style — in a white mansion, trimmed in pink, yellow and lavender. The front double doors opened into an atrium with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and ivory dominos set in a white marble floor.

In 1988, all of New Orleans seemed to be talking about him after he reportedly paid in cash for two Cadillacs and a $130,000 Rolls-Royce. When the salesman asked if he wanted to call his bank about financing, Domino smiled and said, “I am the bank.”

In 1998, he became the first purely rock ‘n’ roll musician to be awarded the National Medal for the Arts. But he cited his age and didn’t make the trip to the White House to get the medal from President Clinton.

That was typical. Aside from rare appearances in New Orleans, he dodged the spotlight in his later years, refusing to appear in public or even to give interviews.